Editing Consumer behaviour (section)

=== Internal influences on purchase decision ===
{{See also|Market segmentation}}

Internal influences refer to both personal and interpersonal factors. Social theory suggests that individuals have both a ''personal identity'' and a ''social identity''. Personal identity consists of unique personal characteristics such as skills and capabilities, interests, and hobbies. Social identity consists of the individual's perception of the central groups to which an individual belongs and may refer to an age group, a lifestyle group, religious group, educational group, or some other reference group. Social psychologists have established that the need to belong is one of the fundamental human needs.<ref>Bhattacharya, C.B., Hayagreeva, R and Glynn, M.A., "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1252327 Understanding the Bond of Identification: An Investigation of Its Correlates among Art Museum Members]", ''Journal of Marketing,'' Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct., 1995),  DOI: 10.2307/1252327, pp. 46-57</ref> Purchasing [[behaviour]] is therefore influenced by a broad range of internal factors such as psychological, socio-economic, demographic and personality factors. [[Demographic]] factors include income level, [[psychographics]] (lifestyles), age, occupation, and socioeconomic status. Personality factors include knowledge, attitudes, personal values, [[belief]]s, emotions, and feelings. Psychological factors include an individual's [[motivation]], [[Attitude (psychology)|attitudes]], personal values, and beliefs. Social identity factors include culture, sub-culture, and reference groups.  Other factors that may affect the purchase decision include the [[Social environment|environment]] and the consumer's prior experience with the category or brand.

====Motivations and emotions====
[[File:Vegetarian diet.jpg|thumb|left|Maslow's hierarchy suggests that people seek to satisfy basic needs such as food and shelter before higher order needs become meaningful.]]

The consumer's underlying motivation drives consumer action, including the information search and purchase decision. The consumer's attitude to a brand (or brand preference) is described as a link between the brand and a purchase motivation.<ref>Rossiter, J and Bellman, S., ''Marketing Communications: Theory and Applications,'' Pearson Australia, 2005, pp 103-120</ref> These motivations may be negative (to avoid pain or unpleasantness) or positive (to achieve some type of reward such as sensory gratification).<ref name="acrwebsite.org">Rossiter, J.R. and Percy, L., "[http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/7146/volumes/v18/NA-18 Emotions and Motivations in Advertising]", in ''Advances in Consumer Research,'' Vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon (eds), Provo, UT, Association for Consumer Research, 1991, pp 100-110</ref>

One approach to understanding motivations was developed by [[Abraham Maslow]]. [[Maslow's hierarchy of needs]] is based on five levels of needs, organised accordingly to the level of importance.

Maslow's five needs are:<ref name=":1" />
;Physiological: basic levels of needs such as food, water, and sleep
;Safety:  the need for physical safety, shelter, and security
;Belonging: the need for love, friendship, and also a desire for group acceptance
;Esteem: The need for status, recognition, and self-respect
;Self-actualisation: The desire for self-fulfillment (e.g. personal growth, artistic expression)

Physiological needs and safety needs are the so-called lower order needs. Consumers typically use most of their resources (time, energy, and finances) attempting to satisfy these lower order needs before the higher order needs of belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation become meaningful. Part of any marketing program requires an understanding of which motives drive given product choices. Marketing communications can illustrate how a product or brand fulfills these needs.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Consumer Behaviour: Implications for marketing strategy |author=Quester, P. G. |author2=Neal, C. M. |author3=Pettigrew, S. |display-authors=etal |publisher=McGraw-Hill Irwin|year=2008|location=Sydney}}</ref> Maslow's approach is a generalised model for understanding human motivations in a wide variety of contexts, but is not specific to purchasing decisions.

[[File:Pain Relievers at Kroger.JPG|thumb|A decision to purchase an analgesic preparation is motivated by the desire to avoid pain (negative motivation).]]

[[File:Dairy Queen Blizzard.jpg|thumb|A decision to buy an ice-cream sundae is motivated by the desire for sensory gratification (positive motivation).]]

Another approach proposes eight ''purchase'' motivations, five negative motives and three positive motives, which energise purchase decisions as illustrated in the table below.<ref name="acrwebsite.org"/> These motivations are believed to provide positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement.<ref>Pham, M. T. and Higgins, E.T., "Promotion and Prevention in Consumer
Decision Making: The State of the Art and Theoretical Propositions", in S. Ratneshwar and [[David Glen Mick]], (eds), ''Inside Consumption: Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires'', London: Routledge, 2005, pp 8-43.
</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: left;" | Rossiter and Percy's Purchase Motivations & Emotions
|-
! Motivation
! Emotional Sequence
|-
| '''NEGATIVE'''
|
|-
| Problem removal
| Annoyance → Relief
|-
| Problem avoidance
| Fear → Relaxation
|-
| Incomplete satisfaction
| Disappointment → Optimism
|-
| Mixed approach avoidance
| Conflict → Peace-of-mind
|-
| Normal depletion
| Mild annoyance → Convenience
|-
| '''POSITIVE'''
|
|-
| Sensory gratification
| Dull (or neutral) → Sensory anticipation
|-
| Intellectual simulation
| Bored (or neutral) → Excited
|-
| Social approval/conformity
| Apprehensive (or ashamed) → Flattered/proud
|}

In the marketing literature, the consumer's motivation to search for information and engage in the purchase decision process is sometimes known as ''involvement''.<ref>Clarke, K. and Belk. R.W., "The Effects of Product Involvement and Task Definition on Anticipated Consumer Effort", in ''Advances in Consumer Research,'' Vol. 06, William L. Wilkie (ed.), Ann Abor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, pp 313–318, Online: http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/9220/volumes/v06/NA-06</ref> Consumer involvement has been defined as "the personal relevance or importance of a message [or a decision]".<ref>McInnis, D.J. and Jaworski, B.J., "Two Routes to Persuasion Models in Advertising: Review, Critique and Research Directions", in Valarie A. Zeithaml (ed), ''Review of Marketing 1990'', Marketing Classics Press (AMA), 2011, pp 3-42</ref> Purchase decisions are classified as '''low involvement''' when consumers experience only a small psycho-social loss in the event that they make a poor decision. On the other hand, a purchase decision is classified as '''high involvement''' when psycho-social risks are perceived to be relatively high.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Percy |first1=Larry |last2=Rossiter |first2=John R. |title=A model of brand awareness and brand attitude advertising strategies |journal=Psychology and Marketing |date=July 1992 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=263–274 |doi=10.1002/mar.4220090402 }}</ref> The consumer's level of involvement is dependent on a number of factors including perceived risk of negative consequences in the event of a poor decision, the social visibility of the product, and the consumer's prior experience with the product category.<ref>Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F. and McDaniel, C.,  ''Essentials of Marketing,'' Mason, Ohio, South-Western Cengage, 2009, p. 174</ref>

====Perception====
Part of marketing strategy is to ascertain how consumers gain knowledge and use information from external sources. The perception process is where individuals receive, organise, and interpret information in order to attribute some meaning. Perception involves three distinct processes: sensing information, selecting information, and interpreting information. Sensation is also part of the perception process, and it is linked direct with responses from the senses creating some reaction towards the brand name, advertising, and packaging. The process of perception is uniquely individual and may depend on a combination of internal and external factors such as experiences, expectations, needs, and the momentary set.

When exposed to a stimulus, consumers may respond in entirely different ways due to individual perceptual processes.<ref name=":1" /> A number of processes potentially support or interfere with perception. ''Selective exposure'' occurs when consumers decide whether to be exposed to information inputs. ''Selective attention'' occurs when consumers focus on some messages to the exclusion of others.  ''Selective comprehension'' is where the consumer interprets information in a manner that is consistent with their own beliefs. ''Selective retention'' occurs when consumers remember some information while rapidly forgetting other information.<ref>Trehan, M and Trehan, E., ''Advertising and Sales Management,'' New Delhi, VK Enterprises, p. 165</ref> Collectively the processes of selective exposure, attention, comprehension, and retention lead individual consumers to favor certain messages over others. The way that consumers combine information inputs to arrive at a purchase decision is known as ''integration''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Lynn R. Kahle]] |author2=Pierre Valette-Florence |title=Marketplace Lifestyles in an Age of Social Media|year=2012|location=New York|publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7656-2561-8}}</ref>

Marketers are interested in consumer perceptions of brands, packaging, product formulations, labeling, and pricing. Of special interest is the ''threshold of perception'' (also known as the ''just noticeable difference'') in a stimulus. For example, how much should a marketer lower a price before consumers recognise it as a bargain?<ref>Kardes, F., Cronley, M. and Cline, T., ''Consumer Behavior,'' Mason, OH, South-Western Cengage, 2011 p.329</ref> In addition, marketers planning to enter global markets need to be aware of cultural differences in perception.<ref>Weber, E.U., and Hsee, C., "[https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/12855/Weber_CrossCultural_Differences.pdf Cross-cultural Differences in Risk Perception, but Cross-cultural Similarities in Attitudes Towards Perceived Risk]", ''Management Science,'' Vol. 44, no. 9, 1998, pp 1205- 1217</ref> For example, westerners associate the colour white with purity, cleanliness, and hygiene, but in eastern countries white is often associated with mourning and death. Accordingly, white packaging would be an inappropriate colour choice for food labels on products to be marketed in Asia.

==== Symbolic Consumer Behaviour ====
Symbolic consumption becomes the internal influence of consumer behaviour and forms a special symbol. Consumption symbols can be used to explain the consumer as a group member or a unique individual.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoyer |first1=Wayne |last2=Deborah |first2=MacInnes |last3=Pieters |first3=Rik |title=Consumer behavior |date=2018 |publisher=Cengage |location=Australia |isbn=9781337514804 |page=431 |edition=7th |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=6351273&ppg=449}}</ref> Consumer consumption behaviour is not only material and psychological consumption.
Symbolic consumption has two meanings:
1. A symbol of consumption. Consumption expresses and transmits a certain meaning and message. The meaning derived from culture enables us to use products to symbolise our membership in various social groups.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoyer |first1=Wayne |last2=Deborah |first2=MacInnes |last3=Pieters |first3=Rik |title=Consumer behavior |date=2018 |publisher=Cengage |location=Australia |isbn=9781337514804 |page=432 |edition=7th |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=6351273&ppg=449}}</ref> This symbolic consumption is the process of social expression and social communication.
2. Symbolic consumption: People consume not only the commodities themselves but also certain cultural and social significance symbolised or represented by them, including mood, beauty, grade, status, status, atmosphere, style, emotional appeal, etc. Symbolic consumption is typically reflected in brand consumption. Brand has three functions for consumers: functional value, symbolic value and experience value. Take luxury brands: The power of luxury brands is more than just their ability to convey identity. Some consumers want to make an impression. Luxury goods used to be the daily routine of the aristocracy, but after the concept of modern social class was blurred, consumers still regarded it as a ticket to enter the upper class. Consumers evaluate a brand based on how it aligns with our identity, which helps define and maintain our self-concept.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoyer |first1=Wayne |last2=Deborah |first2=MacInnes |last3=Pieters |first3=Rik |title=Consumer behavior |date=2018 |publisher=Cengage |location=Australia |isbn=9781337514804 |page=439 |edition=7th |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=6351273&ppg=449}}</ref> As a symbol of noble status, wealth and success, it has become a consumer identity and status symbol.

==== Prior experience ====
The consumer's prior experience with the category, product, or brand can have a major bearing on purchase decision-making. Experienced consumers (also called experts) are more sophisticated consumers; they tend to be more skillful information searchers, canvass a broader range of information sources, and use complex heuristics to evaluate purchase options.  Novice consumers, on the other hand, are less efficient information searchers and tend to perceive higher levels of purchase risk on account of their unfamiliarity with the brand or category. When consumers have prior experience, they have less motivation to search for information and spend less effort on information search but can process new information more efficiently.<ref>Carroll, C.E., ''The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Reputation'', Chichester, Sussex, Wiley, 2013, p. 44</ref> One study, for example, found that as consumer experience increases, consumers consider a wider range of purchase alternatives (that is, they generate a larger consideration set, but only at the product category level).<ref>Johnson, M.D. and Lehmann, D.R., "[http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=7885 Consumer Experience and Consideration Sets For Brands and Product Categories]", in ''Advances in Consumer Research'', Vol. 24, 1992, Merrie Brucks and Deborah J. MacInnis (eds), Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 295-300.</ref>

==== Random factor ====
Random factors refer to special occasions and a series of random conditions consumers have when purchasing. Sometimes, consumer purchase decisions are made in unexpected circumstances, or a situation will delay or shorten people's decision-making process. Research has found that in waiting for scenarios where consumers are ubiquitous, seemingly unrelated physical cues, such as area carpets or queue guidelines, can act as virtual boundaries that alter consumers' initial decisions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reisch |first1=Lucia A. |last2=Zhao |first2=Min |title=Behavioural economics, consumer behaviour and consumer policy: state of the art |date=November 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=199 |language=en}}</ref>